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Tim Wesseling (BC CfE in HIV/AIDS, St. Pauls Hospital)

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Tim Wesseling (BC CfE in HIV/AIDS, St. Pauls Hospital)

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Hello to everybody from Vancouver, British Columbia.  Most of my training has come from my lived experience as a PLWH for the past 27 years as well as formerly living with drug addiction for 12 years.  Stigma was one of the major factors that brought me to my knees and almost took me out.  The struggle is real and i would love to contibute any way that I can to fight it!

Through volunteering at Positive Living BC, I was able to begin my journey back.  I also volunteered as a peer in the addictions communtiy.  Stigma promotes isolation,  avenues for social support ad connection are the key!

I currently work as a Peer Research Associate for the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.. My work ranges from interviewing study participants to developing research questions.  I recently developed a community presentation on Stigma amongst PLWH which we launched at the Dr. Peter Centre and will be taking to various ASO's around the province in an effort to shore what we have learned in the SHAPE Study to date.

I hope that I can help with this project.

BTW ... Francisco taught me it's fun to share a bit about myself ..... I'm a part time GOGO dancer at a local gay bar! lol

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James Watson (St. Michael's Hospital, Centre for Urban Health Solutions)

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James Watson (St. Michael's Hospital, Centre for Urban Health Solutions)

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Hi everyone, I have been living with HIV for a heck of a long time (25 years or so) and started my career in HIV community-based research (CBR) as a peer researcher in 2006. The work and renewed connection to community changed and saved my life. I moved on to managing large-scale CBR projects for the Ontario HIV Treatment Network and am now working as the Coordinator for Community-Based Research and Peer Initiatives at St. Michael's Hospital, Centre for Urban Health Solutions in Toronto.

A large part of my work life has been  helping to develop a training curriculum and support framework for peer researchers in Canada through Universities Without Walls.

I also host and produces a podcast called “pozcast”, a show that brings HIV research to life and sit on the Board of Directors at Fife House in Toronto.

I'm looking forward to working with all of you. This is going to be fun!

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Hi everyone! My name is Calum Thompson and I am the coordinator for the POZ Effect. I am a recent graduate from Queen's University where I completed my undergraduate degree in psychology. There I found my true love - statistics. This lead to me applying to a Master's of Public Health in Toronto, where I start in September 2019.

I began volunteering for St. Michael's in November of last year. I mainly researched the viability of running an online conference. Since then my role has firmed up and I am in charge of coordinating volunteers and working on the back end for the POZ effect. I will be the one coaching PRAs and speakers on moderation for the POZ effect and how to present in an online setting.

I look forward to meeting and working with everyone over the coming months!

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Kia Ora from Aotearoa, New Zealand. I'm the ED of Body Positive our national agency for PLHIV. New Zealand has a low prevalence of HIV with 3600 people our of 4.8M. THe majority of PLHIV are MSM with virtually no PWID or vertical transmission. Given the low numbers are the remote areas we find that stigma is alive and well with HIV being basically invisible to the general population. We have issues around criminalization and crystal meth use. Our population is ageing and work is required in this area as well.

NZ does have universal access to medication for everyone. But we deny access to work permits to PLHIV due to economic burden (International students are welcomed and not asked for their HIV status).

Body Positive works nationally to provide all types of direct support - counselling, peer navigation, workshops, PLDI, Retreats etc). WE have no National strategy on HIV..

We are implementing the Stigma index at the moment and hope to get some good data to support our programs.

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Cathy Worthington (University of Victoria)

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Cathy Worthington (University of Victoria)

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In partnership with community agencies and people living with HIV, I've been doing HIV related community-based research for about 25 years. I've been with the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria since 2011. Before coming to UVic, I was at the University of Calgary for 10 years.
I'm part of the BC Stigma Index team, and have been supporting the peer researchers and PAN to conduct the data analysis with the survey results.
I also work with Francisco on the Universities Without Walls training program (we've been doing this HIV CBR training program since 2009!), and I'm the academic lead for BC for the CBR Collaborative Centre and REACH 2.0.
In my little bit of free time, I get outside with my two hound-mixes. Coast and Straits Salish territories are among the most beautiful on the planet, and I'm grateful to live here.

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Hi all, I'm the Regional Health Education Coordinator for Ontario with CATIE. I'm a pharmacist by training and worked across Ontario, including one year as a harm reduction specialist in Thunder Bay. I spent the subsequent 6 years working internationally with key populations around the world, to some of which I myself proudly belong. My work has taken me from very grassroots and community-driven based out of Thailand and across Asia, to global response and policy coordination with UNAIDS and the NGO Delegation. Before taking on this role at CATIE, I was working with UNESCO on education reform in Afghanistan. I have seen the detrimental effects of stigma and discrimination on the response to HIV and the many communities impacted. I have also witnessed great strides made in and by our communities. Looking very much forward to this event.

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Hello everyone,

My name is Colt Burrows and I am the National HIV Stigma Index Coordinator here in Canada, a community-based research project that aims to document the experiences of stigma and discrimination  among people living with HIV.  While completing my undergraduate degree in microbiology from the University of Toronto, I worked as a peer support coordinator for LGBT Youth Line, a community-based organization that provides peer-to-peer support and referrals for queer and trans youth questioning their gender and sexual identities across Canada.  My involvement with LGBT Youth Line and my work as a student ambassador for the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research guided me towards a degree in public health.  In 2015, I began and completed a Master’s of Public Health at the University of British Columbia with a focus on Indigenous and queer health.

While living in Vancouver, I worked as a peer research associate for the Momentum Health Study (a prospective cohort study exploring the sexual behaviours of MSM in Vancouver) and as a peer support worker for QMUNITY (a queer and trans resource center for Vancouver LGBTQ2S youth).  I  currently sit on the Board of Directors at YouthCO HIV & Hep C Society as Board Coordinator, and as Youth Director for the Canadian AIDS Society, and am involved with multiple Indigenous research initiatives.  When not working, I enjoy back-country camping and working my way through cookbooks!

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Hey everyone!
My name is Pim Looze and I recently joined GNP+ to assist with coordinating the People Living with HIV Stigma Index. I first got involved with GNP+ during the AIDS2018 conference in Amsterdam. However, hiv has always been a part of my life - growing up with a mum who has been positive since before I was born (picture shows me and my mom). At the same time, I am working on finishing my masters' degree in Child Development (Youth at Risk) at the University of Amsterdam.
Looking forward to working with you all on this pilot online conference!

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Hey y'all!
Click here to see my intro
Post your intro too!
We can use it later so folks know who helped us (we will confirm with you first)